At the age of 48 and with five Olympic medals and nine Laser World Championship titles, Brazil's Robert Scheidt leads the European Olympic Qualifier for the men's single-handed dinghy being competed for in Vilamoura, Portugal. Schiedt scored seconds in both of today's races to lead by a point.
Finn Lynch (NYC) leads the Irish contingent with a 28th and 5th to lie 27th overall, while Ewan McMahon (HYC) is in 50th place after race scores of 28 and 25. Liam Glynn of Ballyholme is a further seven places back (11th, 49th) while Tom Higgins (RSGYC) is 100th (49, 47) and his clubmate Hugo Kennedy is in 124th after two 59s.
ILCA 7 Country Olympic Qualification Position
In the all-important battle for country selection, where the top two of those not yet qualified will book tickets to Tokyo, the situation after day one is best expressed by the table below where lower points are better.
So five countries between Ireland and that all-important second place but it's early days and there are plenty of races left to sail till Saturday.
Country | Points |
---|---|
ESP | 14 |
BEL | 15 |
SUI | 17 |
NED | 21 |
POR | 26 |
GRE | 29 |
IRL | 33 |
ITA | 36 |
TUR | 37 |
MNE | 39 |
POL | 43 |
UKR | 73 |
DEN | 74 |
ISR | 77 |
LTU | 84 |
CZE | 84 |
Full results are here
After a long period without major regattas due to the pandemic situation, many of the top sailors, even from qualified countries, are competing at this event.
Organised by Vilamoura Sailing, this qualifier event is held for European countries to claim their remaining four slots for the Tokyo Olympic Games: two in the women's ILCA 6 fleet and two in the men's ILCA 7 fleet. There are seven countries competing for the two ILCA 6 Olympic tickets, and 17 countries vying for the two ILCA 7 slots.
150 sailors from 34 countries were able to come together for this event, as Vilamoura continues to be one of the few places in the world right now where sailing competitions are open.